Small Problems
by Dawn of Chaos
Summary: Nothing preps for what comes after an eventful day after many months.


The stone of the floor passes under his feet as the bed holding his beautiful wife is pushed along the hallway. He keeps up easily as the nurses and doctor hurry to get her to the room she's been assigned to. His lean, well built frame lets him slide to a halt at the door as she's taken away from his eyes, a nurse staying with him while his wife is taken care of in the small room. His fists remain at his sides that tremble slightly, his attire only slightly disheveled from the sudden disturbance in the middle of the night that they needed to head out.

An ebony dyed waistcoat with gold trimmings rests over only one shoulder, the right bare to show his red Fairy Tail insignia. Short white trousers reach just to his knees and a white, scale print scarf is wrapped loosely around his neck to drape down his back. He stubs the tip of one of his sandals against the ground, knowing he's not allowed in just yet. A lightly tanned hand reaches up to run through his short, spiky, rose-colored hair as he turns around, eyebrows drawing together as he listens to her cries through the walls.

The nurse whispers to him each time he paces back and forth in front of her, the words attempting to reassure him that she's more than okay. But he knows this better than anyone at the moment. The truth is he's worried about everything in the situation even though they've been planning and prepping for months now. His mood merely heightened by the moment he continues pacing, glancing at the door with hardened eyes each time until finally the door opens and he's ushered inside.

"Natsu..." is the first thing he hears in the form of a gravely, weary voice.

He immediately darts around everything to get to the her bedside, reaching down to grasp both his hands around one of hers, fingers squeezing his back to let him know she's more than happy he's with her. Big brown eyes stare up at Natsu with tears glistening in the corners of them, her complex pale yet flushed at the same time. Her shoulder length blonde hair falls loose all around her face, sticking to the sides ever so slightly from the perspiration on her face. He doesn't pay much attention to anything anyone says other than concentrating on the way her eyes squeeze shut for the slightest moments. He leans down for the brief window of opportunity to peck a kiss to her dry lips, "Just squeeze my hand Lucy."

She gives a curt nod before a rumble comes up her throat, a premature scream that prepares to rip from her lips the second the pain spikes through her body. Natsu keeps his attention on her as everyone else remains occupied on the condition of the baby about to be born. Suddenly his ears ring slightly as he feels his hand about to be shattered from the death grip her slender fingers have on his. The only difference for the next few passing, agonizing, moments is that afterward a new cry joins Lucy's; a much softer yet shrill cry.

A woman appears by their side but Natsu doesn't give her a single look, "It's a boy! Do you have a name picked out?"

Lucy locks her eyes with his and she whispers softly to him, the nurse then departing with the baby boy's name etched onto the sheet in her hands with black ink. A permanent addition to their lives...

**x.x.x.x**

A couple days later the two parents find themselves home; happy, yet tired. Unsurprisingly, Happy is no where in site, having vanished while they were gone; probably off back at the guild while they get settled back in. The kitchen around them remains a slight mess from the nature of little sleep and care for everything else besides the baby. Natsu grateful lets his forehead collide with that of the counter where he's seated before on a stool, the headache pulsating through his thick skull making him close his eyes as he whines to the blonde woman cradling their child in her arms. "He's _nothing_ like the Igneel I grew up with!"

She shoots him a glare that could possibly freeze him to death if he hadn't looked away with guilt, "He's a baby not an old dragon!" She stalks around the side of the counter and her fist collides with top of his head, a burp of fire coming out of his mouth from the hit.

The baby Igneel immediately stops crying at the sight of the flames; curious as the newborn baby he is. Natsu notices immediately, as well as Lucy, and before he can say a word she's walking to another room of the small home. Clearly not wanting to hear this idea he has she turns to him with the baby still balanced perfectly in her arms, "You change his diaper for once and I'll _think_ about it." Her finger points at him and he merely grins, taking up the challenge as he swipes the healthy boy from her races into the room to change his diaper.

She waits two to three seconds, tapping her foot against the ground, waiting for his yell. Just on time, she sighs.

"How do I put this on?"

Lucy hurries into the room to see her baby boy squealing and giggling up a storm as a piece of the tape from the diaper is caught not only around his thumb but around some of his hair. She begins to open her mouth then realizes... he's not going to know how that even happened himself, so why bother asking? A soft giggle is all she gives him as she walks over, untangling the diaper from him, a yelp emitting from his throat as she yanks the piece from his hair.

"What kind of diaper is that? It's a monster!"

"Don't yell Natsu."

"It attacked me!"

"Shut up."

"You should have seen it! That thing practically ate my hair!" He immediately shuts up as power explodes in his face, coughing slightly to get it out of his mouth and nose. "W- What was that for?"

"You'll make him cry again."

Natsu rubs fervently at his face, "You're the one going to make me cry. This stuff is thick."

In a matter of seconds she manages to get a diaper, decent at best, wrapped around the small bottom and fastened properly. "Bath time next... Natsu do you..." Lucy slowly turns around and almost collapses from the shock of his disappearance, "...I guess not. The big baby." In her arms Igneel coos up at her, beginning to flail and crave something she can only rely on instincts to figure out. "If he doesn't come back soon... I'll kill him."


End file.
